Multiple Offers Go Wild as Inventory Evaporates

Twelve offers on a bank-owned property in a Shoreline subdivision near Innis Arden, list price $450,000. A stack of offers on a Wedgwoood house listed at $550,000 that reportedly drove the price into the sixes. Open house counts in the sixties and seventies and more.

629 Seattle house listings went pending in the last 30 days, with 1081 left on the market – less than a two month supply. 245 condos went pending in the same period, leaving 654 on the market, about a ten-week supply.

Why? We don’t know. The market usually heats up at the beginning of the year, carrying into the spring, but this is something we haven’t seen in years.

One pressure on buyers is from the FHA, which will be increasing the amount of up-front mortgage insurance from 1% of the loan to 1.75% on April 1st.

Interest rates are at amazing lows – basically, a good borrower can qualify – at 28% debt-to-income ratio – for a loan that’s almost five times their annual income.